


No Place Like Home

by Josh89



Series: A Detective's Story [14]
Category: Criminal Case (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26404150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh89/pseuds/Josh89
Summary: Detective Josh and his sister have a long overdue face to face conversation after she picks him and Grace up at the airport.
Relationships: Grace Delaney/Player Character, Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Player Character & Original Female Character
Series: A Detective's Story [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1277363
Kudos: 2
Collections: /r/FanFiction Prompt Challenge #20 / August 2020





	No Place Like Home

**Author's Note:**

> Direct follow up to the end of Letters To Home.

Springfield, Missouri, 12th November 2016  
I sighed contentedly as I settled into the leather passenger seat of my sister’s car, which I knew from previous letters had been my parents’ gift to her on her 18th birthday. “So good to finally be home”.  
Ari grinned at me from the driver’s seat. “Yeah, I’ll bet it is. So, you going to tell me what’s going on between the two of you?” she queried playfully, gesturing to the woman fast asleep in the back of the car, her head resting against one of the windows.  
“Really, sis? You’re interrogating me about my relationship and you’ve only just met her? See, this is why I never brought anyone home” I retorted, though the grin on my face made it clear that I was only being partially serious and that I wasn’t all that angry with her at all.  
“Hey, you mention her all the time in your letters. At least the ones from Grimsborough and Antarctica onwards. So sue me, I got curious. So spill the beans” Ari said defensively.  
“Fine. To tell the truth, we haven’t decided whether anything is going on between the two of us yet. Would I like there to be? Yes, most definitely. Grace is… unlike anyone I’ve ever met, and I mean that in the best possible way. Does she want there to be something more than just being best friends between us? I don’t know, Ari. All my instincts are screaming at me to believe that she does, but I just… I don’t know. I don’t want to risk it and then find out that she doesn’t feel the same way about me and wind up with heartbreak again. Not like Stephanie Mueller in Senior year”.  
Grace shifted slightly in the back seat, muttering something in her sleep before slumping against the door again. I saw Ari’s eyes flicker from the road to the rear-view mirror for a couple of seconds before she refocused, tightening her grip on the steering wheel. “Bro. The relationship between you and Stephanie was over more than 10 years ago. You broke up with her because she was cheating on you with her married piano teacher, remember? Plus, as you admitted after your breakup, you were never really that close anyway. Stop using the failure of a relationship that was pretty much doomed from the start to avoid making what could turn out to be the best decision you could ever make”.  
I shook my head, laughing. “When the heck did you get so wise, sis?”  
“I browse relationship blogs in my spare time. It’s kind of amazing how much you can learn from reading what other people’s relationships are like. Especially, and I hate to say this but we both know it’s true, their failures”.  
I stared out of the window at the traffic thoughtfully briefly before turning back to my sister, a smile playing across my features. “Fair point. I’ll talk to her about it at some point while we’re here. Now, interesting as you may find it, sis, I don’t think you should have all the fun of asking questions. So what’s been going on with you lately? And I don’t mean the things you’ve told me in your letters, I mean the stuff you haven’t told me yet”  
My sister blushed. “Things are getting pretty serious between Drew and me”.  
“Drew? Your childhood friend Drew, the one whose eyes always lit up when she saw you?”  
Ari smiled fondly at the memory. “That’s her. I used those musical tickets you sent me for my birthday a few years ago to take her on a date. We had a really good time”.  
“When did you two get together? I don’t need to have a talk with her, do I?”  
Ari laughed; a gentle, soft sound that reminded me once again how glad I was to finally be in her company again. “No, don’t worry, you don’t have to talk to her. We got together the day after my 16th birthday. She stayed the night and we played games and kind of got to talking about crushes and she confessed that she’d had feelings for me since we started high school but she was afraid that I would reject her and our friendship would be ruined. She was so worked up about it that I had to kiss her to get her to calm down. The next day we talked about it some more and agreed that we both wanted to give a relationship a try”.  
“Well, I’m happy for you”.  
Ari smiled softly, and I knew that she would have hugged me if she wasn’t driving. “Thanks, bro. It gets better, actually. I’m planning on proposing to her this weekend. Tomorrow, in fact. I’m going to take her to the Springfield Botanical Garden tomorrow and we’re going to spend the day there, then we’ll go into the Japanese garden and find a bench by the koi pond. I’m going to propose to her there when the sun sets”.  
“I’m sure she’ll say yes, sis”.  
Ari smiled appreciatively as she slowed the car and prepared to turn into a driveway to our right. “I’m sure she will too. Oh, and she’s having dinner with us tonight, so you’ll get to meet her. Try not to spoil the surprise for me, alright?”  
“Your secret’s safe with me”.  
As she pulled the car to a stop, there was a groan from the back seat, and the red-haired former coroner sat up, brushing the sleep from her eyes. I turned, looking back at her. “Good sleep, Grace?”  
“It was alright. I’m going to have to have a longer sleep tonight though, definitely. What time is it?”  
I quickly pulled out my phone, inwardly thinking about what my sister and I had been talking about and puzzling over how exactly I was going to tell Grace. “2:25 pm”.  
Grace nodded, giving me a warm smile. “Okay, that makes sense. Thanks”.  
“Of course”.  
As we got out of the car and grabbed our bags, I couldn’t help but smile. There really was no place like home.


End file.
